Don't Hug Me I'm Scared

Each episode revolves around three characters: a yellow childlike humanoid with blue hair and overalls, an anthropomorphic green mallard duck with a tweed jacket, and a red humanoid with a mop-like head. Their names are never explicitly stated in the series but are often referred to as Yellow Guy, Duck and Red Guy respectively. The characters never refer to each other by name, but by pronouns. Yellow Guy's father, Roy, also occasionally appears. An episode typically goes with the three main characters meeting one or several anthropomorphic characters, who begin a musical number related to a basic concept of day-to-day life with an upbeat melody, similar to that of a Sesame Street segment. As each song progresses, it becomes apparent that its moral or message is nonsensical and self-contradicting, and that the "teacher" character has ulterior, sinister motives. The climax of each episode is typically a plot twist involving escalating psychological horror which culminates into gore and graphic violence. Later in the series, the characters begin questioning the nature of their reality and the bizarre messages of the teachers.

• Baker Terry as Yellow Guy, Duck, Tony the Talking Clock, Shrignold, Steak and Lamp
• Becky Sloan as Sketchbook and Spinach Can
• Joseph Pelling as Red Guy and Colin the Computer

• TomSka as Magnet
• Kellen Goff as Shovel

All episodes were written by Becky Sloan and Joe Pelling, with Baker Terry co-writing each episode starting with "Time". "Time" is co-written by Hugo Donkin.

{{Episode table |background=#FF613D |overall=10 |title=33 |airdate=33 |titleR= |episodes=

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 1

| Title = Creativity{{efn|This episode was uploaded under the title "Don't Hug me I'm Scared".}}

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2011|7|29|df=y}}{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C_HReR_McQ |title=Don't Hug me I'm Scared |via=YouTube |date=29 July 2011 |access-date=16 October 2015}}

| ShortSummary = The group of three are sitting in a kitchen. A singing sketchbook opens, singing about being creative. They do child-like activities, such as imagining clouds as different shapes, and judging colours. Many of Yellow Guy's ideas are told to be non-creative by the sketchbook. The climax is an exaggerated description of creativity, where the three do deranged acts such as baking a cake with internal organs or covering hearts in glitter, with shaky camera shots and frantic music. The video ends with everyone sitting at the table, everything restored to normal. The sketchbook tells them to "never be creative again" before shutting herself closed.

| LineColor = FF613D

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 2

| Title = Time

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2014|1|8|df=y}}{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtkGtXtDlQA |title=Don't Hug me I'm Scared 2 |via=YouTube |date=8 January 2014 |access-date=24 October 2024}}

| ShortSummary = The main characters are waiting for their TV show to begin. A talking clock named Tony comes alive to teach the characters about time. During his song, the characters constantly question time and its reality, annoying Tony. He accelerates time during the climax, causing the characters to age rapidly and decompose. The decomposing is revealed to be part of a television show they were watching, with Tony telling them "everyone runs out of time" as the TV returns to static.

| LineColor = FF613D

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 3

| Title = Love

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2014|10|31|df=y}}{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXOdn6vLCuU |title=Don't Hug Me I'm Scared 3 |via=YouTube |date=31 October 2014 |access-date=16 October 2015}}

| ShortSummary = The group is sitting at a picnic, where Duck kills a yellow butterfly. Upset, Yellow Guy runs away into a tree where he meets a butterfly named Shrignold, who sings to him about love, including that true love is kept for one's "special one." After an unrelated story about "Michael, the loneliest boy in town", Shrignold and his cult reveal that they worship a statue named Malcolm, who they feed gravel. As the cult tries to coerce him into abandoning his identity to find solace, Yellow Guy wakes up from his dream in a tree. Red Guy and Duck find him, offering him their last boiled egg as an apology. A disgusting caterpillar-like creature pops out of the egg, calling Yellow Guy "father" before being promptly squashed by Duck.

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{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 4

| Title = Computers

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2015|4|1|df=y}}{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9FGgwCQ22w |title=Don't Hug Me I'm Scared 4 |via=YouTube |date=31 March 2015 |access-date=16 October 2015}}

| ShortSummary = The characters are playing a trivia board game, where they are stumped by the question "What is the biggest thing in the world?". A singing computer named Colin appears, presenting himself as clever and helpful due to him being digital. Afterward, he asks the group many questions in the style of a computer setup, as the increasingly annoyed Red Guy tells him to "shut up", before slamming his hand on Colin's keyboard. Enraged, Colin glitches the screen, before transporting the characters to the "Digital World". Colin shows them the three main activities they can do: looking at various charts, "Digital Style", and "Digital Dancing". These three activities are repeated rapidly until a room is filled with corrupted and distorted dancing clones of Yellow Guy, Duck and Colin. Red Guy attempts to escape the room he is in, exiting to a room containing a film crew in spandex suits filming a crude replica of the main cast. Red Guy says "Wait, wha-" before his head explodes into glitter abruptly at the sound of a clapperboard.

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{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 5

| Title = Health

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2015|10|14|df=y}}{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS_Xq7gSCBM |title=Don't Hug Me I'm Scared 5 |via=YouTube |date=14 October 2015 |access-date=16 October 2015}}

| ShortSummary = Red Guy is absent, and though Yellow Guy and Duck seem to be aware of a change, they cannot clarify what it is. Anthropomorphic food start to sing about being healthy, but deliver bizarre and nonsensical advice. The song is repeatedly interrupted by the telephone ringing. After Duck answers it, he becomes fearful and attempts to escape. He awakens in a dark room, where an anthropomorphic can disembowels him and eats his organs, as the anthropomorphic food continues singing to Yellow Guy back in the kitchen. The episode cuts to night; Yellow Guy is bloated with blood and feathers covering his mouth as the phone rings once more. The credits show Red Guy walking away from a telephone box.

| LineColor = FF613D

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{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 6

| Title = Dreams

| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2016|6|19|df=y}}{{cite web|last=Don't Hug Me .I'm Scared|title=Don't Hug Me I'm Scared 6|via=YouTube |date=19 June 2016|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbL-NSkXnl8|access-date=25 June 2016}}

| ShortSummary = Yellow Guy is crying in bed, lamenting his missing friends. A talking lamp comes to sing about dreams and drags him into an animated sequence, ignoring Yellow Guy's pleas to stop, the montage ends with him drowning in oil. The episode abruptly cuts to Red Guy in an office, with other workers looking similar to him. He fantasises about a file coming alive and singing a song, which leaves his colleagues unimpressed. At a bar, he performs the Creativity song from the first episode on stage, but is booed by the audience. Seeing Roy, Yellow Guy's father, in the back of the audience, Red Guy is suddenly transported to a dark empty room. He finds a control panel with monitors recording Yellow Guy being mentally tortured by the lamp. Using the panel, he frantically transforms the lamp into several teachers from previous episodes, as well as teachers that have not been seen yet. After Roy taps Red Guy from behind with a massively elongated arm, Red Guy notices and follows a cord from the machine to a giant plug, which he pulls. The episode cuts to Red Guy, Yellow Guy, and Duck sitting at a table in a kitchen, their colours changed to their favourite colour mentioned in the first episode. The sketchbook from the first episode opens and sings the opening line to the Creativity song.

| LineColor = FF613D

}}

}}

Becky Sloan, Joseph Pelling and Baker Terry met while studying Fine Art and Animation at Kingston University, where they started THIS IS IT Collective with some friends.{{cite web | url=https://www.channel4.com/press/news/dont-hug-me-im-scared-press-pack-interview-becky-sloan-joe-pelling-and-baker-terry-0 | title=Don't Hug Me I'm Scared press pack interview with Becky Sloan, Joe Pelling and Baker Terry | Channel 4 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/18301/1/beckyjoe-are-this-weeks-dazed-visionaries|title=Becky&Joe are this week's Dazed Visionaries|author=Matt Mansfield |date=6 January 2014|website=Dazed|access-date=19 June 2016}} They produced the first episode of Don't Hug Me I'm Scared{{efn|The official YouTube channel for the series is called "Don't Hug Me .I'm {{sic}} Scared".}} in their free time with no budget. When they started on the project they imagined making it into a series, but initially dropped the idea after finishing the first episode. After the short film gained popularity, they decided to revisit that idea.{{cite web |last=Boult |first=Adam |url=http://metro.co.uk/2015/10/26/dont-hug-me-im-scared-interview-with-creators-becky-joe-5462591/ |title=Don't Hug Me I'm Scared: Interview with creators Becky & Joe |date=26 October 2015 |work=Metro News |access-date=17 April 2016}} Channel 4's Random Acts commissioned the second episode. The show attracted mainstream commissioners; however, Sloan and Pelling turned these offers down because they "wanted to keep it fairly odd" and "have the freedom to do exactly what we wanted".{{cite web |last=Coldwell |first=Will |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/jan/27/dont-hug-me-im-scared-youtube-viral-puppet-show-interview |title=Don't Hug Me I'm Scared: the puppets who sing, dance and eat raw meat |work=The Guardian |date=27 January 2016 |access-date=17 April 2016}}

In May 2014, Sloan and Pelling announced that they would start a Kickstarter fundraising campaign to make four or more additional episodes, one every three months, starting in September 2014. They uploaded low-quality camera footage of the characters being taken hostage and held for ransom. A 12-year-old American boy tried to use hacked credit card information to donate £35,000 to the campaign, but he was caught and those funds were thrown out.{{cite web |url=http://blog.credit.com/2014/06/12-year-old-used-stolen-credit-cards-to-fund-puppet-show-85832/ |title=12-Year-Old Used Stolen Credit Cards to Fund Puppet Show |first=Christine |last=DiGangi |work=Credit.com |date=25 June 2014 |access-date=17 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140830053637/http://blog.credit.com/2014/06/12-year-old-used-stolen-credit-cards-to-fund-puppet-show-85832/ |archive-date=30 August 2014}} Their Kickstarter goal of £96,000 was reached on 19 June 2014, and in total £104,935 was raised. YouTuber TomSka became an executive producer on the series after donating £5,000 to the Kickstarter.{{cite web|url=https://teneightymagazine.com/2014/06/14/tomska-pledges-5k-to-dont-hug-me-im-scared-series/|title=TomSka pledges £5K to Don't Hug Me I'm Scared series}}

In January 2016, Sloan and Pelling collaborated with Lazy Oaf to release a line of clothing based on the characters and themes of the show.{{cite web |last=Shin |first=Nara |url=http://www.coolhunting.com/style/dont-hug-me-im-scared-lazy-oaf-apparel-collaboration |title=Don't Hug Me I'm Scared + Lazy Oaf |work=Cool Hunting |date=18 January 2016 |access-date=17 April 2016}}

The series received widespread critical acclaim. Scott Beggs listed the original short film as number 8 on his list of the 11 best short films of 2011.{{cite web |last=Beggs |first=Scott |url=http://filmschoolrejects.com/features/year-in-review-the-11-best-short-films-of-2011.php |title=Year in Review: The 11 Best Short Films of 2011 |work=Film School Rejects |date=30 December 2011 |access-date=17 April 2016 |archive-date=18 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418233302/http://filmschoolrejects.com/features/year-in-review-the-11-best-short-films-of-2011.php |url-status=dead }} Carolina Mardones listed the first episode as number 7 in her top ten short films of 2011.{{cite web |last=Mardones |first=Carolina |url=http://www.biobiochile.cl/2012/03/03/seleccionan-los-10-mejores-cortometrajes-de-2011.shtml |title=Seleccionan los 10 mejores cortometrajes de 2011 |work=biobiochile.cl |language=es |date=3 March 2012 |access-date=17 April 2016}} It was included as part of a cinema event in Banksy's Dismaland.{{cite web |last=Jobson |first=Christopher |url=http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2015/08/dismaland/ |title=Welcome to Dismaland: A First Look at Banksy's New Art Exhibition Housed Inside a Dystopian Theme Park [Updated 8/22] |work=Colossal |date=20 August 2015 |access-date=17 April 2016}}{{cite web |url=http://www.slashfilm.com/banksy-dismaland-short-films/2/ |title=Watch: Banksy Dismaland Previ ew & Short Film Program |work=Slashfilm |date=26 August 2015 |access-date=17 April 2016}} In April 2016, the main characters of the series were featured on the cover of the magazine Printed Pages, along with an "interview" of the three main characters written by the magazine's editor.{{cite web |url=http://magculture.com/printed-pages-springsummer-2106/ |date=26 April 2016 |title=Printed Pages, s/s 2016 |work=magCulture |access-date=4 May 2016}}{{cite web |url=http://www.itsnicethat.com/features/dont-hug-me-im-scared-interview-030516 |last=Pritchard |first=Owen |title=Don't Hug Me I'm Scared – an exclusive interview with Duck, Red Guy and Yellow Guy |work=It's Nice That |date=3 May 2016 |access-date=4 May 2016}} All six episodes were included in the September 2016 festival XOXO.{{cite web |url=https://www.theverge.com/2016/9/11/12881398/xoxo-fest-2016-best-of |title=Our favorite discoveries from the internet's best festival |date=11 September 2016 |work=The Verge |access-date=15 September 2016}}

Drew Grant of The Observer described the series as "mind-melting".{{cite web |url=http://observer.com/2015/02/dont-hug-me-im-scared-this-series-will-break-your-brain-and-it-will-be-magic/ |title=Don't Hug Me I'm Scared: This Series Will Break Your Brain and It Will Be Magic |last=Grant |first=Drew |date=3 February 2015 |work=Observer |access-date=17 April 2016}} Freelance writer Benjamin Hiorns observed that "it's not the subject matter that makes these films so strangely alluring, it's the strikingly imaginative set and character design and the underlying Britishness of it all".{{cite web |url=http://creativepool.com/magazine/entertainment/dont-hug-me-im-scared-by-becky--joe-launches-to-solve-world-problems.6602 |title=Don't Hug Me I'm Scared by Becky & Joe launches to solve world problems |last=Hiorns |first=Benjamin |work=Creativepool |date=16 October 2015 |access-date=17 April 2016}} Joe Blevins of The A.V. Club praised the show's "sense-to-nonsense ratio" and its production values.{{cite web |last=Blevins |first=Joe |url=http://www.avclub.com/article/dont-hug-me-im-scared-has-been-baffling-internet-f-239227 |title=Don't Hug Me I'm Scared has been baffling the internet for five years now |date=7 July 2016 |work=The A.V. Club |access-date=11 July 2016}} Samantha Joy of TenEighty praised the sixth episode of the series, writing that it "creates a provocative end to a pretty dark narrative about content creation".{{cite web |last=Joy |first=Samantha |url=http://teneightymagazine.com/2016/07/27/five-of-the-best-youtube-animations/ |title=Five of the Best: YouTube Animations |work=TenEighty |date=27 July 2016 |access-date=16 August 2016}}

{{Main|Don't Hug Me I'm Scared (TV series)}}

On 19 June 2017, a year after the release of episode 6, Sloan hinted towards additional work into the Don't Hug Me I'm Scared series.{{cite instagram|user=becky.sloan|title=It's June 19th!! Big DHMIS news coming in the FUTURE...🎉📺🔍👀 #DHMIS #donthugmeimscared|date=19 June 2017|access-date=25 October 2022|postid=BVhwUvJhfrQ|author=Becky Sloan|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 October 2022|url=https://www.instagram.com/p/BVhwUvJhfrQ/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20221025050115/https://www.instagram.com/p/BVhwUvJhfrQ/}}{{Primary source inline|date=September 2019}} A teaser trailer titled "Wakey Wakey..." was released on the channel on 13 September 2018, teasing a television show made in a collaboration between Blink Industries, Conaco, and Super Deluxe. The 30-second video gained over two million views within 24 hours of its release and peaked at No. 1 on YouTube's Trending list.{{cite news|last=Cooper|first=Gael Fashingbauer|date=14 September 2018|title=Don't Hug Me I'm Scared is making new episodes|publisher=CNET|url=https://www.cnet.com/news/dont-hug-me-im-scared-is-making-new-episodes/|access-date=15 September 2018}}{{cite web |last=Sloan |first=Becky [@becky.sloan] |date=13 September 2018 |title=Wakey Wakey... |url=https://www.instagram.com/accounts/login/?next=/p/Bnq5JQwnzdW/ |access-date=2022-05-28 |website=www.instagram.com}} Details of the plot were released on 3 December 2018 in advance of a 2019 Sundance Film Festival screening of the pilot.{{cite web|date=3 December 2018|title=2019 Sundance Film Festival: Indie Episodic, Shorts and Special Events Announced|url=https://www.sundance.org/blogs/news/2019-sundance-film-festival-episodic-shorts-special-events|access-date=26 December 2018|publisher=Sundance Institute}} The pilot episode ran at 23 minutes, and it appeared in the "Indie Episodic Program 1" alongside other short films.{{cite web|title=don-t-hug-me-i-m-scared-08fc1516-a01a-45c6-912f-22995f07b722|url=https://www.sundance.org/projects/don-t-hug-me-i-m-scared-08fc1516-a01a-45c6-912f-22995f07b722|access-date=12 April 2020|website=sundance.org|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110183738/https://www.sundance.org/projects/don-t-hug-me-i-m-scared-08fc1516-a01a-45c6-912f-22995f07b722|archive-date=10 November 2021}}

On 7 July 2020, it was announced that the series had been picked up by Channel 4.{{cite web|title=Latest Young Audiences Content Fund production slate announced|date=7 July 2020 |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/news/latest-young-audiences-content-fund-production-slate-announced|access-date=8 July 2020|publisher=British Film Institute|language=en}} The series wrapped up filming by September 2021,{{cite web|url=https://www.instagram.com/p/CTRiLkKoyAA |title=Don't Hug Me I'm Scared on Instagram: 'Life's a laugh when you are making a TV show with the BEST TEAM EVER 🎉👀🎬🎉 3 months of filming done….woo! #dhmisLife' |publisher=Instagram.com |date= |access-date=2022-08-04}} and it was expected to be originally released{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrtrzIWfGYw | title=FLY | website=YouTube | date=19 June 2022 }}{{cite web|title=Our show that we have been working on for a hundred years will be on channel 4 in September!|url=https://twitter.com/japelling/status/1538507419042586624|access-date=19 June 2022|website=Twitter|language=en}}{{cite web|title=The Long-Awaited Don't Hug Me I'm Scared TV Series Will Debut This September|date=19 June 2022 |url=https://www.thegamer.com/dont-hug-me-im-scared-tv-series-september-2022|access-date=19 June 2022|publisher=The Gamer|language=en}} streaming on All 4 on 12 September 2022.{{Cite web |last=Pelling |first=Joe |date=5 September 2022 |title=6 eps out on the 12th on @All4 |url=https://twitter.com/japelling/status/1566784548888797184 |access-date=2022-09-05 |website=Twitter |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Channel 4 |date=5 September 2022 |title=Six brand new episodes of the hit web series 'Don't Hug Me I'm Scared' will be available to stream exclusively on All 4 from Sept 12th 👀 #DHMIS |url=https://twitter.com/channel4/status/1566750489953198080 |access-date=2022-09-05 |website=Twitter |language=en}} However, the series was postponed because of the death of Queen Elizabeth II.{{Cite news |date=2022-09-09 |title=Don't Hug Me I'm Scared: your guide to the cult webseries making the jump to TV |url=https://www.nationalworld.com/culture/television/dont-hug-me-im-scared-all4-release-date-trailer-cast-cult-webseries-becky-sloan-joseph-pelling-3837599 |access-date=2022-09-10 |newspaper=Nationalworld |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Don't Hug Me I'm Scared - All 4 |url=https://www.channel4.com/programmes/dont-hug-me-im-scared |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220909182631/https://www.channel4.com/programmes/dont-hug-me-im-scared |archive-date=9 September 2022}} On 16 September 2022, it was announced that the series would be releasing on 23 September 2022 on All 4 and premiered 30 September 2022 on Channel 4.{{Cite web |title=Don't Hug Me I'm Scared on Instagram: "Update! New DHMIS available on All4 from Friday 23rd September & on Channel 4 from Friday 30th September 11.05pm … 📺👀 #dhmis #donthugmeimscared" |url=https://www.instagram.com/p/CikwDvUIJUX/ |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=Instagram |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Joe Pelling on Instagram: "NEW AIR DATE. All eps on all4 from Friday 23rd September & on Channel 4 from Friday 30th 11.05pm." |url=https://www.instagram.com/p/Cikv9EJKZW4/ |access-date=2022-09-16 |website=Instagram |language=en}}

• Wonder Showzen
• Happy Tree Friends
• Pib and Pog
• Salad Fingers
• The Amazing Digital Circus
• Popee the Performer

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://dhmis.tv Official website]
• [https://www.youtube.com/user/thisisitcollective/about Official YouTube channel]
• [http://beckyandjoes.com Becky and Joe's website]

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Category:2010s YouTube series

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Category:2020s British black comedy television series

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Category:2010s viral videos

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